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David McKenzie

David McKenzie

@dmckenzie.bsky.social

5.3K followers 300 following 330 posts

Lead Economist at the World Bank’s Development Research Group
Development Impact blogger

https://sites.google.com/site/decrgdmckenzie/

David McKenzie is a lead economist at the World Bank's Development Research Group, Finance and Private Sector Development Unit in Washington, D.C. His research topics include migration, microenterprises, and methodology for use with developing country data. .. more

Economics 43%

Sociology 18%

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David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · Nov 15

I started a starter pack for World Bank researchers. Let me know if I am missing you go.bsky.app/BWMsQG6

Reposted by David McKenzie

Econ That Matters @econthatmatters.bsky.social · 1d

To kick things off for our 2025 Job Market Paper series, Ferran Vega-Carol writes about his JMP about Solar Electrification in Rural Myanmar.

Check it out: www.econthatmatters.com/2025/12/how-...

#JMP #Econsky #ETRM

How Do Opportunities Shape Aspirational Responses?

Experimental Evidence from Solar Electrification in Rural Myanmar We are excited to launch our Job Market Paper Series blog for 2025-2026, beginning with our very first blog post by Ferran Vega-Car…

www.econthatmatters.com

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 3d

In today's JMP, Molly Doruska looks at how to protect firms in Dakar from flooding. Individual subsidies had negative spillovers on other firms as water diverted, but combining subsidies with community meeting reduced flood losses without negative spillovers blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Do uncoordinated flood loss mitigation investments produce spillovers? Guest post by Molly Doruska

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 4d

In today's JMP, @sanjanagh1.bsky.social looks at how changes in who is in power shapes regulatory discretion over pollution enforcement in the sugar industry. The same regulatory capacity leads to very different outcomes depending on who is in power.
blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Discretion and Capture: How Politics Shapes Pollution Enforcement in India. Guest post by Sanjana Ghosh

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 5d

Air pollution from crops burning is a huge problem in India. Today's JMP blog by Piyush Gandhi shows how subsidizing & training farmers to take-up a new early maturity seed has big benefits in reducing crop burning and pollution. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Can Better Seeds Clear the Air? How India Can Fight Pollution Through Smarter Farming

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 6d

Mexico City is sinking. Today's JMP blog by Lucy Hackett looks at how the housing market is responding. Sinking lowers prices. Information frictions lead to an oversupply of houses in risky places, and prices don't predict the likelihood of future sinking. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Beyond sinking sand: How housing markets respond to an environmental hazard in Mexico City

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 7d

Should policy actors deliberately expose people to diverse viewpoints or might backlash worsen divisions? This JMP blog by Nilmini Herath provides theory on how to do social network interventions depending on how people aggregate opinions & on network structure blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

A framework for social network interventions in contentious and conflictual settings. Guest post by Nilmini Herath

blogs.worldbank.org

Reposted by Cátia Batista

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 12d

In today's JMP blog, @hardiahmed.bsky.social uses DiD to show how sharia law reform in Northern Nigeria affected child health and fertility, and how this varies with enforcement intensity. Weak enforcement of child protection laws particularly harmed non-muslims blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Enforcement Matters: How Nigeria’s Sharia Reform Created Winners and Losers: Guest Post by Hardi Ahmed

blogs.worldbank.org

Reposted by Michael Barnett, Brian A. Nosek, David McKenzie , and 8 more Michael Barnett, Brian A. Nosek, David McKenzie, Stefano DellaVigna, Caroline Krafft, Samuel Bentolila, Jonathan Birch, Simon Wiederhold, Georg Weizsäcker, Tom Louwerse, Tom Chevalier

Eva Vivalt @evavivalt.bsky.social · 13d

🚨 New working paper!

How well do people predict the results of studies?

@sdellavi.bsky.social and I leverage data from the first 100 studies to have been posted on the SSPP, containing 1,482 key questions, on which over 50,000 forecasts were placed. Some surprising results below.... 🧵👇

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 13d

In today's JMP blog, @adautheville.bsky.social finds that many Tanzanian microentrepreneurs are actively searching for jobs while running their businesses, which is correlated with lower profits and less investment. An information intervention has limited effect
blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Planning for Which Future? Searching for Jobs While Running a Business: Guest post by Adrien Dautheville

blogs.worldbank.org

Reposted by David K. Evans

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 16d

In today's JMP blog, @economiyaki.bsky.social shows how even 3 hours/day of kindergarten in Indonesia is enough to increase women's employment (by 13 p.p.) & does not crowd out care offered by relatives blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Scaling short days: Even limited childcare can transform family labor. Guest post by Dyah Pritadrajati

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 17d

How do men's expectations about how a job will affect their wife's share of consumption affect female labor force participation? Today's JMP blog by @andreasmurra.bsky.social conducts an experiment in India to show women's work take-up depends on husbands beliefs blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Expecting the worst: Household bargaining and the suppression of women’s work in India. Guest blog by Andrea Smurra

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 18d

In Nigeria, 30% of workers experience delays receiving their wages. In today's JMP, Daniel Sonnenstuhl runs an RCT and find workers work harder when faced by delayed pay - but making pay reliable increases willingness to accept job offers blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Why would employees work harder when firms don’t pay their wages? Guest blog by Daniel Sonnenstuhl

blogs.worldbank.org

Reposted by Valerie Mueller, Climent Quintana‐Domeque, Todd Pugatch

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 19d

Reminder, last couple of weeks to get your papers in for a special issue of the WBER on migration and development.

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 19d

In today's JMP, @shreyasarkar.bsky.social asks whether it is worthwhile for firms to subsidize worker-owned capital. An experiment subsidizing down payments on scooters to allow mobile salon gig workers to travel faster/further says yes: gains for worker & firm blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

Should firms subsidize worker-owned capital? Experimental evidence from India's platform Economy. Guest post by Shreya Sarkar

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 20d

Today's JMP features @akhila-kovvuri.bsky.social's work which shows how the extension of the metro system in Delhi generated new jobs around transit stations. Using staggered DiD, she shows consumer-focused firms move in, with new jobs. Large gain for women. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?

What if the train brought the job to you? How public transit moves opportunity closer—and changes who gets hired: Guest post by Akhila Kovvuri

blogs.worldbank.org

Reposted by Aaron Sojourner

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 23d

In today's JMP, @christinasarah.bsky.social tests an information intervention to boost organ donation in Tunisia. The work shows the role of building trust in medical institutions, and the importance of considering family and peer dynamics in this decision. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Fostering Trust to Save Lives: Evidence from Organ Donation in Tunisia: Guest post by Christina Sarah Hauser

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 24d

In today's JMP, @rebeccawurx.bsky.social shows how misbeliefs about whether offering a low wage is a signal of low quality leads new freelancers to not try to enter with low wage offers - as well as how misbeliefs about own performance affect this choice blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Lower Prices, Lower Chances? How Misbeliefs Keep Freelancers Out of Online Jobs: Guest Post by Ruoxuan (Rebecca) Wu

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 25d

In today's job market post, Ed Jee reanalyzes microdata from 27 asset & cash transfer RCTs to examine whether asset dynamics suggest poverty traps. He finds fixed costs around owning large animals suggest traps for some people, but that many hhs can still escape blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Escaping the Poverty Trap: Why Some Households Stay Poor — and Others Don’t: Guest post by Ed Jee

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 26d

I would think it would be hard unless they are monopoly buyers - otherwise they invest in seed technologies that farmers than may end up selling mostly to other buyers. But not a context I know. Industry associations/cooperatives could perhaps overcome some of the coordination/spillover issues

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 26d

In today's job market post, @matteo-ruzzante.bsky.social uses DiD to show how price controls on GM cotton in India spurred adoption by farmers, but reduced subsequent location-specific seed development. Despite innovation reduction, farmers were still better off. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Priced for Development? How Price Controls Spread Technology but Stall Innovation: Guest post by Matteo Ruzzante

blogs.worldbank.org

Reposted by Selim Gulesci, Clark Gray

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 27d

In today's job market post, Sneha Nimmagadda shows in India that mothers misperceive how stunted their kids are, because so many other kids around are also stunted. Correcting this perception changes beliefs and feeding practices, increasing weight for age blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

When every child is stunted, no child Is? How local norms distort perceptions of growth: Guest post by Sneha Nimmagadda

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 27d

Our job market series continued on Friday: amenjalal.bsky.social shows revealing pay in online job applications reduces gender sorting in Pakistan. Large firms pay more, but are less likely to reveal salaries and offer less job flexibility. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Amen Jalal (@amenjalal.bsky.social)

Economics PhD student at LSE; previously at Yale and World Bank. amenjalal.com (she/her)

amenjalal.bsky.social

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · Nov 6

Updated link: blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

When Risk Aversion Keeps Firms Small: Evidence from Kenyan Retailers: Guest post by Grady Killeen

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · Nov 6

Yes, it is unclear why a risk-neutral large manufacturer does not offer this, but perhaps the transactions costs are too high with lots of tiny vendors

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · Nov 6

Today we start our job market paper blog series, with Grady Killeen providing an experiment in Kenya that shows how risk aversion keeps firms from introducing new products - a temporary returns policy got them to learn and adopt a new profitable product blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

When Risk Aversion Keeps Firms Small: Evidence from Kenyan Retailers: Guest post by Grady Killeen

blogs.worldbank.org

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · Nov 5

A special Wednesday links is now up, since it is the deadline for our blog your job market paper series today. I cover the new update of our VoxDevLit on business training, work on exporting, political polarization, and return migration, and more... blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Reposted by David McKenzie

Reposted by David McKenzie, Cátia Batista

VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · Nov 5

What have we learned about training entrepreneurs?

Issue 4 of our VoxDevLit on Training Entrepreneurs by @dmckenzie.bsky.social, Christopher Woodruff & Co-Editors is out now!➡️ voxdev.org/voxdevlit/tr...

Today's podcast covers the update➡️ voxdev.org/topic/firms/...

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · Nov 3

In today's blog, I discuss how much I'm updating my priors on the effectiveness of wage subsidies in developing countries based on several new studies: quite a bit on shaping who is hired, much less on whether they create new jobs, a bit on coping with shocks blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Updating my priors on the effectiveness of wage subsidies in developing countries

blogs.worldbank.org